If you mean, is anyone but Zak paying me, the answer's no. And if you mean am I doing anything in regard to Zak other than what Zak is paying me to do, the answer's still no. And if anything that's happened in this crazy tailing operation you've set up suggests different, that's because your mind's crooked, not because I am.'
It was a spirited response coming from an overweight unathletic invalid to a professional bouncer built like a concrete pill-box, but it provoked nothing more violent than a snapped bourbon cream.
'So we're both honest men,' said Starbright with a faint air of surprise.
'I haven't been to jail,' retorted Joe.
'I didn't go for dishonesty,' said Starbright.
'Just poor judgement,' said Joe, trying for a sneer.
'No. Judgement was perfect. Like you said before, the guy got exactly what I intended to give him, which was what he deserved.'
'Meaning?'
'He was drunk. He started a fight. I threw him out. He got abusive. I told him to go home. He told me he was going to get a few of his mates and come back and sort me out.'
'So you got your retaliation in first?'
'No. Sticks and stones, water off a duck's back. I watched him stagger to his car. Souped-up sports job. Pissed and pissed off, he was going to kill somebody. I thought of ringing the pigs, but by the time they got their act together, there could be blood on the highway. So I followed him out, suggested he shouldn't be driving.'
'Which he didn't like?' said Joe, interested now.
'You could say that. Told me to piss off. So I took his key off him and bent it in half. Then I set off back to the club. Only he came after me, jumped on my back, tried to strangle me. And all the time he was shouting that he wanted to get into his car, I had no right to stop him getting into his car. He could have been right. So I put him in it.'
Through the sun roof. Which wasn't open.'
'It was a canvas top with a plastic panel. Good fart would have blown it out,' said Starbright. 'But it turned out his daddy was a lawyer. Hate bloody lawyers. Should shoot two or three every week to encourage the others.'
'There's a guy loose who would agree with you,' said Joe. 'OK, so you were a victim of a miscarriage of justice ...'
'Didn't say that,' said Starbright. 'I was in the right till I dumped him through his car roof. Then I was in the wrong. Not six months in the wrong though. Fifty-quid fine and bound over in the wrong. But the magistrate was probably in the same lodge as the lawyer. Hate bloody masons. Should shoot'
'Yeah, yeah,' said Joe.
He was finding it hard to adjust to the shift of Starbright Jones from Personal Enemy Number One to ... what? Ally? He couldn't really believe that. But then his life was fuller than Paul of Tarsus's of instances of having to swing through one hundred and eighty degrees of belief.
He said, 'Do you always take this much interest in your clients?'
'What the hell does that mean?' said Starbright, suddenly very aggressive.
'Hey, cool it. All I mean is, you're being paid to keep Zak free of hassle from press, photographers, or any nut that might come along, right? Nothing in a minder's job description which says he's expected to check out everyone who comes in contact with her. That's detective work.'
'Too clever for me, you mean? I got seven 'O' levels. How many you got?'
'Makes no difference if you got a degree from Oxford University. All I know is, if a carpet fitter starts painting the ceiling, I get to wondering why. Must've been something which made you think Zak needed protecting from more than just the tabloid boys.'
Starbright sipped his tea, his small sharp eyes studying Joe over the rim. It occurred to Joe that he was probably having the same difficulty shifting his old viewpoint.
He made a decision and said, 'Zak's been told she's got to lose the race at the Plezz or else nasty things are going to happen to her family. She doesn't want to go to the cops cos she's worried it might turn out someone in the family is implicated. So she's asked me to sniff around, see if I can come up with anything before Monday.'
Starbright nodded. Thought it might be something like that.'
'Yeah? Well, anyone ever asks you, say you worked it out yourself. This is client-confidential info. I could get shot for telling you.'
'So why are you telling me?'
'Because I've only got till the day after tomorrow to come up with a result. Any help anyone can give me, I'm in the market for.'
Starbright nodded again, this time as if he too had made a decision.
'It's that sister of hers,' he said. 'I've seen her watching Zak training. She looks ... hungry.'
'Hungry?'
'That's right. Like a half-starved kid watching a banquet through a window and knowing it can't have any.'
The Welshman was getting poetic, but not precise.
'And that's it?' said Joe. 'Nothing more?'
'Of course there's more,' snarled Starbright. 'She's not in it alone. Down the Plezz, day before yesterday, Zak
